The Challenge in the Mob
by RositaLG
Summary: The first ever Mob Challenge! The prompt: "How do Brennan's fame and Booth's private lifestyle clash in the announcement of her pregnancy to the greater public?" This was my take.


A/N: A #MobChallenge oneshot. Eitoph's prompt for sunsetdreamer, biba79, and I was: Brennan's public life vs. Booth's private life in regards to announcing their pregnancy to the greater public. This was my answer. Enjoy and be sure to check out the other fics!

OOOOO

Booth opened the morning paper and took a sip of his coffee before biting into his eggs. He loved a hot breakfast in the morning and Saturdays had become sort of a brunch day for the two ever since they had moved in together. He heard the phone ring and he glanced at it before seeing Brennan reach out to answer it.

"Hello." She said. Booth went back to reading his paper. "Yes I am." She said. "January." She answered and Booth put down his paper. She was talking about her pregnancy. He wondered who she could be talking to. Their family members and co-workers were all in the know and as excited as they could be. "Yes. You'll have to talk to my publicist about that." She paused. "You're welcome. Goodbye." She hung up the phone and set it down on the counter.

"Who was that?" Booth asked.

"The New York Times." She said nonchalantly. "They wanted to confirm my pregnancy and set up an interview to discuss."

"What?" He said, shocked. "Why?"

"Booth, I have a close relationship with them. My books have been on their best seller lists for a long time."

"So, what does that have to do with your pregnancy?"

"After all of those years of writing about Kathy and Andy solving crimes and having sex, I become pregnant with my own partner's child? It's not only going to come up, it's going to be relevant." She said as if it were common place to have the New York Times call during breakfast.

"Bones, you can't just go out and talk to one of the country's largest newspapers about our personal business. That's insanity." She stared at him, as if trying to understand why he was mad.

"Booth, what do you want me to do? This is the other half of my job. These people support my writing and write the reviews. I have to develop a relationship with them."

"Yes, a professional relationship." He said. "There has to be a line somewhere, Bones."

"What did you want me to do, lie to them?" She asked. "Deny the fact that I'm pregnant?"

"No, but I don't think they need to print our personal lives on page 6 either."

"We agreed that when it came to our relationship. I can be honest without revealing the personal details that are between us."

"Bones, this is different. You can't do this interview." He was getting frustrated and when that happened, he lost the ability to argue with her logical explanations. He was resorting to demands, which they both knew only pissed her off even more.

"Who do you think you are telling me how to run my career?" She asked him, wanting an answer.

"Who the Hell am I?" He asked, standing up. "I'm the father of your fucking child!" He yelled at her. "I have a say in this too! And I'm sorry if that screws with your independent lifestyle, but you have to think about more than just yourself right now! You can't be that selfish anymore!" She scoffed at his demand.

"I'm selfish? For wanting to live my life as normally as possible?" She said, surprised it took this long for the fight to emerge. "Do I not live up to your great expectations of what life is supposed to be like, Booth? I'm selfish because I don't want to get married? Because I want to have a family _and_ a job?" She could hear herself becoming irrational but she couldn't stop the accusations as they flew out of her mouth. "It's not enough that I've already had to give up most of my lifestyle for this baby, now you want to tell me how I can change it to suit you as well?" She yelled back. "If I'm so much of a disappointment for you, maybe you should just do us all a favor and leave now before things get even more complicated." Her eyes were quickly filling with angry tears and she silently cursed her hormones. One look at Booth's hurt face and she knew that she had gone too far. Ashamed at her loss of control, she turned around and walked out of the kitchen, wiping the traitorous tears from her cheeks as she went.

"God, Bones, that's not what I..." He muttered to himself as he rubbed his eyes in frustration. Her allegations had floored him and he needed a minute to gather his thoughts. With a sigh, he finally walked into the living room. "Bones, will you look at me?" He asked.

"I can't." She said honestly. He spun her around to face him but she buried her face into his shoulder instead.

"Okay then, just listen instead." He compromised as he stroked her hair. "I love you. More than I can even express. I love your independence, your talent, your brain...all of it. I wouldn't change a thing about you or us. I don't want you to ever doubt that." He paused. "And because I love you so much, I try to protect you from the FBI side of our work, and maybe I've done that too well." He muttered into her hair. "There are people out there who threaten us on a daily basis." He admitted "And between your popularity and the criminals who want revenge, there are a lot of them." She looked up at him in surprise, not about the threats, but that he was discussing them. He had never mentioned them outside of specific cases before.

"I live with those risks because I know that it comes with the work that we do. But these people also know that the best way to get to me is through my family." He said as he let his hands rest on her hips. "You and I, we've been kidnapped, shot at, blown up, but the most terrifying moment of my career was the thought of Howard Epps touching my son. To this day, when I think about how helpless and terrified I felt in that moment…" He stopped from even processing that thought. "I don't ever want you to have to experience that. I want to protect you, all of you, from the Gravediggers and the Epps and the Broadskys of the world. And frankly, the fewer strangers who know about this baby, the safer I feel." He said honestly. Brennan considered his statement and when she had come to a conclusion, she reached out for the phone and dialed a number.

"Sue? It's Dr. Temperance Brennan. The New York Times just called to verify my pregnancy and schedule an interview. Tell them that due to matters concerning my family's safety, we cannot cooperate with the press regarding my personal life and we thank them for their discretion on the matter. Yes, all press." She hung up the phone without another word. Booth stared at her with those deep brown, understanding eyes.

"Thank you." He said quietly and she nodded.

"You're a good father, Booth." Brennan told him. "Our child is very fortunate." She touched her barely showing stomach and Booth's hand followed, resting on top of hers. He could hardly believe that there was a child growing in there, let alone his child. He looked up into her eyes and she sighed. "I'm sorry I yelled." She said, the guilt of their fight sinking in. "I find myself reacting foolishly in light of the hormonal changes."

"I shouldn't have gotten upset. I know that you would never intentionally endanger anyone." He said. "And I don't think you're selfish. I love you."

"I know you do," she assured him, "but I worry that I'm not what you envisioned, that I can't give you the life that you always wanted." She admitted.

"_You_ are what I've always wanted." Booth said honestly. "You are more than I could have ever hoped for." He said honestly. "And now a baby?" He smiled at her. "My life is wonderful, Bones and it's all because of you."

"But we disagree on so much." She knew it to be true. All of those things that had seemed like small issues between partners were now big issues between parents. "How are we going to raise a child together when we can't even agree on what to tell people?"

"We're going to have to balance each other out. Just like always." He said with a small smile. "Heart and brain, Bones. We're better when we're together. Our child will grow up knowing about faith and science, logic and magic." She smiled at his attempts to cheer her up. "We can do this." He promised her.

"It's going to require compromise." She told him. He nodded as he kissed her neck. Her eyes fluttered shut and she let out a breathy sigh. He suddenly remembered what Angela had told him about a woman's second trimester libido. He had never made it that far into Rebecca's pregnancy to find out if it was true or not. "I'm not always the best at…oh." She murmured as he found her swollen cleavage and dragged his thumb across her pert nipple.

"You're better at it than you give yourself credit for." He assured her.

"Booth…" She warned as she found herself being walked back towards the bedroom. "I know what you're trying to do. We can't avoid this conversation forever." She tried to be strong as his hands ran all over her skin, leaving a trail of burning embers in their wake.

"Shh, no more talking." He whispered as he cut her off with a kiss. The taste of his tongue seared like venom through her veins, forcing the rest of her body to cooperate to his every will. As her blood raced towards her core, she was surprised at how quickly her body reacted to his touch. These were hormonal changes that she could definitely adjust to. Her back met the door frame and she used it to her advantage, pulling Booth past her and into the bedroom first. After all, it was her turn to do the backing. They managed to undress each other quickly and only stopped when the back of Booth's legs hit the bed. He managed to pull her down with him and she laughed as they both toppled to the bed. They kicked off the rest of their clothes and she kissed his chest as she made her way back towards his mouth.

"I want you so much." She murmured as she stroked him once for good measure.

"Oh, I'm all yours." He promised with a groan.

"Yeah?" She grinned as she rewarded him with another pump.

"Yeah." He grabbed her firmly by the thighs and positioned her over his hips. As she slipped down onto him, her eyes rolled back in her head as he filled her completely. She would never tire of the sensation. Booth stubbornly argued that they were made for each other, he was certain of it. She would never go that far, but she knew that those first few moments were her favorite part of their exceptional love life.

As they moved together, working in tandem to erase their sins, she found the strength to be vulnerable.

"Tell me…" She gasped as he stroked up into her in just the right way. "Tell me that you love me." She managed to sound demanding despite the breathy moans that punctuated her command.

"I do, Baby. You know I do." He hissed as she moved exquisitely over top of him. "I love you so much it hurts."

"And you think we can do anything?" She asked him.

"Anything we set our minds to."

"Because we're partners." She asked more than stated.

"Because we're, oh God," he groaned. "Because we're us." His explanation vibrated on his lips and rang in her ears as they came together, their worlds colliding.

As they both came down from their high, Brennan couldn't help but wonder if the sex was more satisfying for him during her pregnancy as well. Was he aware of how great her body felt in this delicious post-coital haze? Did he feel the same way? His exhausted but satisfied groan gave her the indication that he did. As he turned to face her, he flashed the look that she would never tire of seeing: the one that told her that she wasn't the only one in awe of the other's love.

After all that they had been through together, and all that they had survived apart, the fact that they had ended up here was, in Booth's words, a miracle. But that was what made it special. They both knew that, whatever their differences may be, there would always be something stronger keeping them together than pulling them apart.


End file.
